NOTE: This article contains descriptions of abuse that some might find triggering. Please read at your own discretion.
Actor Evan Rachel Wood has accused her ex-boyfriend, shock rocker Marilyn Manson (real name: Brian Warner), of abuse that took place over several years.
On Monday, Wood posted a message to her Instagram account, saying she was “horrifically abused.”
“The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson,” she wrote. “He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years. I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission. I am done living in fear of retaliation, slander, or blackmail. I am here to expose this dangerous man and call out the many industries that have enabled him before he ruins any more lives. I stand with the many victims who will no longer be silent.”
Wood alleges that the abuse happened during the pair’s relationship, which ended in 2010 after they got engaged. They started dating when Wood was 19 years old and Warner was 38.
As of this writing, Warner, 52, has not commented publicly on the allegations.
Wood, now 33, has previously spoken out about abuse she’s faced in the past, but she’s never named her alleged abuser.
She famously spoke out about the alleged abuse — in detail, but without accusing anyone by name — to Rolling Stone in 2016. It wasn’t immediately clear if the person she was accusing is Warner.
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“I’ve been raped,” she said. “By a significant other while we were together. And on a separate occasion, by the owner of a bar… I don’t believe we live in a time where people can stay silent any longer. Not given the state our world is in with its blatant bigotry and sexism.”
According to Vanity Fair, since Wood’s allegations have gone public, at least four other women have come forward with similar stories about Warner.
In 2018, Wood testified before a U.S. House Judiciary committee to help administer the Survivors Bill of Rights Act across the entire country.
“My experience with domestic violence was this: toxic mental, physical and sexual abuse which started slow but escalated over time, including threats against my life, severe gaslighting and brainwashing, waking up to the man that claimed to love me, raping what he believed to be my unconscious body. And the worst part, sick rituals of binding me up by my hands and feet to be mentally and physically tortured until my abuser felt I had proven my love for them,” she said at the time.
Wood also created the Phoenix Act, which took effect in January of last year. In an effort to help abuse victims, it extends the statute of limitations on domestic violence to five years from three. This provides victims more time to come forward.
A police report was filed against Warner in May 2018 for unspecified sex crimes dating back to 2011 by an undisclosed complainant, according to The Hollywood Reporter. At the time, the Los Angeles district attorney declined to pursue the case.
The allegations made to the police “were and are categorically denied” by Warner, asserted his lawyer at the time, and “any claim of sexual impropriety or imprisonment at that, or any other, time is false.”
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If you think someone is being abused, here is some information on supporting them and additional information on safety planning.
If you think someone is abusive to their partner, here is a list of resources to help.
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